Michelin has shared information about its negotiations with unions on 3 and 4 December regarding the planned closure of two factories in France. These negotiations aimed to outline a structured approach to supporting employees affected by forthcoming organisational changes.
On 3 and 4 December, Michelin management met with representatives from the unions CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour), CFE-CGC (CEC European Managers), FO (Workers’ Force), and SUD (Solidarity Union) – collectively known as the ‘Intersyndicale’ – to negotiate the procedural framework for the proposed closure of its Vannes and Cholet tyre plants in France. As the CFDT reports, these discussions culminated in a draft agreement outlining key points for structuring the negotiations. This agreement, adds the union, should also ensure “employee support” throughout the process.
On 30 January 2024, Michelin France and three trade unions signed a new agreement to enhance the employment of people with disabilities. This agreement builds upon a prior deal from 2021 and covers the period from this year through to 2027.
Workers union the IGBCE has responded to Michelin’s “downsizing plans” in Germany – and as expected it isn’t thrilled. Matthias Hille, head of the union’s activities in the Mainz region and a member of the Michelin Deutschland Supervisory Board, comments that IGBCE “cannot at all comprehend the proposed cutbacks” and promises that these will “meet with our resistance.”
Opposition is building against planned job cuts at the Goodyear plant in Fulda, Germany. The tyre maker announced at the start of June that it would cut about half of the current 1,150 jobs at the Fulda site, and the local Goodyear works council has now invited the workforce in Fulda and other Goodyear sites in Germany to demonstrate against the job cuts in front of the factory gate next Monday afternoon. A non-public works meeting is also scheduled to take place within the plant that day, as employee union IGBCE writes in a recent press release in which it threatens Goodyear with a “fight”.
Goodyear’s decision to cut 5 per cent of its global salaried employees is shocking enough for the firm’s 72,000-strong worldwide workforce. However, the fact that senior executives directly linked that decision to the company’s worse-than-expected performance in the EMEA region (Europe Middle East and Africa) is giving employees in those countries extra cause for concern.
In order to offer a “comprehensive response to evolving employee expectations” about their working environment and conditions, Michelin has entered into a new four-year agreement with the four labour unions representing its workforce in France. The tyre maker and the CFDT, CFE-CGC, CGT and SUD unions signed the ‘People and their Working Environment’ agreement on 5 January 2023.
Michelin and labour unions have signed various successive telework deals covering its workforce in France since 2019 and worked together since the start of the Covid-19 crisis to develop a teleworking vision, strategy and arrangements. On 2 December, senior Michelin management and representatives from four unions signed a new telework agreement.
Pirelli has reaffirmed its commitment to “maintaining industrial operations” at both its Carlisle and Burton-on-Trent UK factories after unions suggested the company was about to close its MIRS robotic production line in Burton. According to Unite, which represents all 280 members of the Burton tyre factory workforce, Pirelli has proposed cutting 80 jobs. In a statement published on 11 February 2021, Unite criticised Pirelli for “not taking up the furlough scheme for these workers, instead of pushing ahead with the redundancies.”
Strong words from one of the unions representing workers at the Continental tyre factory in Aachen, Germany. Speaking with Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, IG BCE trade union chairman Michael Vassiliadis stressed that the planned job cuts “will be expensive”. He also claimed that Continental has turned away potential investors.
The union representing employees at a closure-threatened Continental factory has responded angrily to the decision, accusing Continental of “sacrificing” a “profitable tyre plant” as part of its savings programme. The IG BCE union particularly doesn’t understand the logic behind this step as it claims the tyre business in Aachen has achieved “double-digit” profit margins over the years and even operated in the black during the corona lockdown.
Workers Kumho Tire’s Macon, Georgia factory have voted to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union after the final completion of an election last Autumn. According to the USW, workers sought representation to fight “low wages, hazardous working conditions and abusive treatment at Kumho, which ruthlessly harassed and bullied union supporters in an attempt to derail the organizing campaign”.
Lay-off talks between Vredestein and employees at its Enschede factory in The Netherlands have not resulted in an agreement. The talks were prompted by the management’s announcement in early March that the firm is moving much of its production to Hungary. Since this will result in laying off around 750 of the 1,200 employees, a works council was developed in order to formulate an alternative proposal. However, according to various local news reports, the proposal was not received positively by the company management.
According to the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV), Apollo Vredestein will stop employing temp workers hired through agencies at its Enschede plant from April 2020. This means that almost 150 temporary jobs will disappear in addition to the approximately 750 permanent jobs that the tyre maker plans to shed.
Michelin’s plan to close its truck tyre factory in La Roche-sur-Yon, France took a step forward last Thursday when it signed an employee support agreement with four trade unions. This agreement with the CFDT, CFE‑CGC, SUD and FO unions followed 12 weeks of negotiations that took place between October and January.
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